Stubborn and gentle
by euleeulalia
Summary: At his father's funeral a surprise waits for House. How will he deal with it? How will the others react? AU where House is in a relationship with Chase, and Wilson was never together with Amber. No slash, mostly Hurt/Comfort, mentions of past neglect/abuse.
1. Chapter 1: The Funeral Service

House was sitting in the first row of the small church, waiting for the service to begin. Not that he was interested in any kind of religious rites and even less in the funeral of his father, but out of respect for his mother he finally had agreed to come.

Glancing over to her he noticed an old family friend sitting very close to her, supporting her more than he could ever do. He was glad that she did not expect him to be her rock. As much as he loved her, being emotionally supportive was not his thing, but obviously showing up really might have been enough. Chase and Wilson had tried to convince him of that since he had gotten the news. Right now they were sitting next to him, shielding him from the other members of his family, he had not seen in years and had no interest in speaking to now as well as all of his parents friends. To be honest he was astonished to see how many people had come, maybe the old man was not as much of a bastard in his recent years, at least not to people outside of his direct family? But then he realized that most of them were more likely his mother's friends from book circles and other clubs she had taken to while her husband was working in different places all around the world.

He had been surprised to see Cameron and Foreman sitting in the back of the church as well, obviously they had taken the day off to be there, but he could not fathom why they would do so.

Finally the service started and House was once more reminded why he did not like catholic masses at all: The frequent change between sitting on hard benches and standing was not the easiest thing on his thigh, which was already not too amused after the nearly three hour car drive they had absolved that morning. Thankfully it was not a full mass, so he was not expected to kneel down. All this movement distracted him most efficiently from the question that had occupied his mind on the way there: Should he feel bad that he was not mourning his father? To be exact, he was not sure what he felt and did not really like examining his own feelings either way, so he was nearly welcome for the distraction.

When the service was over, the coffin bearers started their way out of the church and dutifully his mother followed directly behind. Since her friend was still holding onto her elbow, House did not feel obligated to walk next to her, instead he took his place directly behind her, flanked by Chase on the left and Wilson on the right. While his usual pace was pretty fast, especially for a man with a cane, currently he had to struggle to be able to keep up with the coffin bearers. When he noticed his mother slowing down as well, House did no longer try to match their speed. They would not start the rites without all the mourners and mostly everybody walking behind him was at least twenty years older than him, they might even appreciate the slower pace.

At the corner the coffin bearers finally became aware that nobody was behind them anymore and they slowed down as well. Just when House started wondering how much further he would have to make it without taking a break, they stepped off the paved road to reach the grave site. The slightly uneven ground and gravel was a completely new reason for misery, but he had known to expect that and was appropriately careful. While concentrating on every single step, he felt Chase stepping even closer to him. Instead of getting angry at that behavior as he was wont to do whenever he felt pitied or patronized, he managed to relax a little bit, knowing there was a shoulder available to hold on to should he need it. House still sometimes wondered how the young intensivist had managed to break through all his carefully erected barriers and wormed his way that firmly into his life, but somehow he had.

Of course there were no chairs available at the grave site and while House was definitely not amused by that, he knew that he was to blame for not helping with the preparations at all. Unfortunately they had caught a big case in the last week which meant all of them had spend most of their waking hours and several nights as well at the hospital and had simply not been able to consider the organization of a funeral or they would have had another dead body by now. Thankfully they had managed to save their patient just in time to go home, sleep a few hours and drive here.

Mentally preparing himself to be really stiff after the procedure, he took his place next to his mother. He was fine standing mostly on his left leg for quite some time, only balanced out by the cane, while the priest started praying again and then asked all attendees to say their last goodbyes. Stepping forward to the grave and finally be moving again was nearly a relief, even though it was only a few steps, and he realized for the first time that he would never have to face his father again. Grabbing the shovel with his left hand felt kind of awkward, but switching the cane over would have given too much attention to his disability, so he made due using his non-dominant hand as so often during the last years.

Stepping back to his place he would have loved to just leave the service now and flee all the other people to be able to relish in the fact that his father would have no other opportunity to make his disappointment known, but seeing the grieve on his mother's face kept him in place. Since they had taken up their positions outside, Chase had been standing right behind him, offering him something to lean against if necessary. He was determined not to let on, that standing for another 20 minutes would be hard, but he had not taken into account that people might want to offer their condolences to him. Not especially liking to be touched and definitely not fond of shaking hands, he considered again to just leave everybody behind and head back to their car when the first person approached first his mother and then him, but dutifully he switched over the cane to his left hand and accepted his task. He had to bite his cheek several times when people made comments about how sad he surely was and how wonderful his father had been, but managed to keep himself in check. He could feel Chase's hand on the small of his back grounding him and over time leaned into the comforting touch more and more.

At some point people started talking about Chase supporting House, alternating between being astonished that the gruff doctor allowed the comfort and being affronted at the indecent display, which was a sin in their belief, but nobody was too vocal about it. Most of the guests were old enough and well familiar with pain to have their own trouble standing for so long. The ones that had known him longer wondered that it was not Wilson, whom they all were accustomed to as faithful friend and unwavering support since the infarction. They were equally astonished, that he seemed to have made more friends as there were more young people present, that were not members of the family and not from around town either.

Cameron and Foreman had been keeping to the back of the guests all the time, not sure whether their attendance would be welcome, but willing to offer whatever support they could. Even though Cameron had a small speech prepared in her head on how to condole House, both of them only extended their condolences to his mother after watching him needing more support the longer the ceremony was going on.

Directly after them a small girl struggled to make her way to the grave site, obviously unaccompanied, to throw down some flowers she had brought. She did not go to House's mother, but turned directly to House himself. His colleagues were surprised to see the gentle expression on his face. Cameron had started to step closer when the girl swayed a bit while changing directions at the grave, but Foreman had hold her back when he saw House's gesture to stop interfering.

The girl seemed very proud when she reached House and hugged his left leg fiercely. House leaned down and exchanged a few words with her, that nobody could catch, all the while caressing her back until her breathing had slowed down a bit. Then he introduced her to Chase, who was smiling at the scene in front of him. The girl seemed to look him over very critically before she smiled back, and obviously completely exhausted by now, lifted her arms and requested: "Up." Still grinning Chase picked her up and positioned her on his left hip, not relenting in his position as House's support beam at the same time.

It did not take long until Chase was completely taken in by the small girl on his arm. She wore a step counter on her wrist which she presented proudly to him, telling him, that is was already green for today! A few careful questions revealed that this meant she had already fulfilled her pensum of walking for the day, even though it was not evening yet. Noticing the number it was set to was only 200 and combining that with fact that she was clearly wearing a brace, he wondered about the reason, but did not have the time nor the energy to start a differential quite yet.

A short while later finally the last person had said their condolences and the groups dispersed. Well aware that House did not like it when others saw him weak or in pain, his colleagues stayed for a moment longer at the grave site. Obviously on Wilson's order Foreman had fetched a wheelchair from the car in the meanwhile and only now stepped closer. While House usually hated using anything other than his cane with passion, always fearing that it might lead to a set-back, he sat down in the chair without any protest now. Especially Cameron and Foreman threw him concerned glances at that, trying to gauge his pain level, but soon his motives were clear when he extended his arms to accept the small girl.

She seemed overjoyed to finally be where she had wanted to be all the while, but was clearly no longer able to keep upright. "There should be a blanket somewhere." commented House in Chase's direction, already trying to position her in a way that released some of the pressure on her spine and at the same time did not touch his right leg at all. By the time the fleece blanket was situated they had figured out how to compensate for her taller frame and soon the girl began to relax.

House proceeded to ask her some questions to figure out why she was on her own today. At the end they learned that the person who was supposed to bring her to the funeral and watch her left directly after the church service to prepare some coffee and cake at House's parents place, leaving her to go with one of the older ladies from the book club. Since all of them had left by now as well, they would of course take her along. In the car she got to sit on the middle seat, the only one with a lap belt and therefore safe for children without a car seat. Without a comment House scooted into the back with her, helping her to stay sitting upright even despite her exhaustion, leaving Wilson free to ride shotgun.

Chase and Wilson were trying to get the girl to talk to them, but all they were able to get out of her was that her name was Catherine. Seeing that Cathy was getting frustrated, House stepped in and succinctly guided Chase back to his parent's house.


	2. Chapter 2: The Wake

When they arrived at House's parent's place all the close parking spots were taken and they had to park about fifty yards away. House sighed, he did not want to walk that far! Using a wheelchair at his parent's place was not a viable option, they had several steps in front of their door and the hallways and rooms inside would not be wide enough. Either way he would never agree to let so many people see he was not feeling well. In the end he figured he would be able to get there, there just was no way he could carry Catherine at the same time. So he turned to her: "Hey, little lady, do you want to walk or let Chase carry you?" Seeing her lips begin to tremble, he decided: "A lift by the strong prince it is for our handsome lady." and was rewarded by a brilliant smile.

He unbuckled her seat belt and hold her out for Chase to take as soon as his partner had opened the door. Then he started the slightly more difficult process of levering himself out of the vehicle and in a stable upright position. Until now his leg had cooperated astonishingly well and while he was a bit slower than usual, he made it to the steps on his own without further problems. Tackling the stairs would be a different thing though. He had been used to a few flat steps in front of his old apartment, but he had not lived there for quite some time now, and usually avoided any steps or staircases otherwise. Adding to that the fact, that the ten steps at his parent's place were definitely not flat, let him sink down onto them for a minute to gather his strength first.

Wilson was already leaning against the door, knowing by now that House would rather not accept help from him as long as Chase was around and he was not feeling well enough at the moment to offer either way. Carefully Chase deposited his valuable freight with Wilson before he went down the stairs again to sit next to his partner. Using House's key Wilson and Catherine went inside to find a nice place to sit down in the living room and making it possible for House to climb the stairs without witnesses.

House contemplated silently whether he wanted to head into the lion's den at all, where he would have to cope with more stories about how wonderful his father had been, but in the end he did not want to keep Catherine waiting for too long and levered himself to his feet again. Grabbing the railing with one hand and leaning on the cane with the other he made it up two steps before he had to take the first rest. Stubbornly he tried again, but after one more step that nearly resulted in him falling he relented the cane to Chase and accepted his support instead. It was still a slow progress with several breaks, but some time later they had made it.

Back on level ground he switched back to the cane, but kept holding on to Chase until they reached the door to the living room. He had just let go when his entrance had been noticed and suddenly all eyes were on him. House nearly turned around and left, until he heard a high voice telling him: "Here!" followed with a quieter "Please!" while patting on one of the comfortable easy chairs. So he joined Catherine and gratefully she curled up on the cushion he had quickly placed on his lap and fell asleep shortly thereafter, thereby giving him the perfect excuse to stay sitting down for the foreseeable future.

Looking around he did not see Wilson, but he had noticed that his friend had not been feeling well earlier and guessed he was probably by now lying down in one of the guest rooms. Sometimes he admired the easy way Wilson had talking to other people, even House's own mother. Speaking of the devil, he thought jokingly, when he saw her come towards him. "I am glad you came, thank you!" she addressed him, before confirming his assumption: "James needed to rest for a while. I heard you had a quite eventful week?" When he acknowledged that statement with a nod, but did not expand further, she sighed and offered: "I have the will here, you should read it."

House frowned up at her. He did not expect to inherit anything from his father and honestly he did not want any more memories either, but he dutifully accepted the document and started reading. As anticipated, his mother got the house and all the money, but his father clearly stated that from now on House should be fully responsible for Catherine. His mother offered with obvious hesitation to keep her where she was used too, but clearly she was not enthusiastic about that idea – and House did not like it either.

He knew since quite some time that "his little sister" was not at all related with him, since John House was not his biological father, and Catherine came from John's affair with a much younger woman about 8 years ago. Cathy's mother had died a year later in a car accident, which had required his father to take her in. House was well aware that she would have been in a care facility already if they could have afforded the costs. His mother had only reluctantly agreed to Cathy's stay in their household and done her best to ignore the child.

His hand still rested protectively on Cathy's back while he pondered his options. He had no idea how he should manage his busy work schedule while raising a child, especially one with as many health issues as Catherine, but there was no way he could let her stay with his mother who did not want her. Chase was living with him, but put in even more hours, and it was not his responsibility either way. In the end he decided, he might as well give it a try. He could always check out full-time or part-time care facilities in Princeton, should that become necessary. Either way, the kid really should be attending school soon, which would keep her busy for at least some hours during the day. He had never agreed with the decision of his parents to keep her at home and invisible to the world out of shame for her condition.

While Chase had read over his shoulder and obviously anticipated his decision, House surprised Cameron and Foreman with the announcement, that Cathy would be coming back with them. Foreman did not really seem to care one way or the other, but Cameron was delighted to be able to "take care of the sweet little child" and offered to babysit whenever necessary. House, knowing that Cathy's small size led people to underestimating her age by several years, was silently looking forward to that interaction. His little sister was usually extremely shy, but could be quite a handful when somebody went against her will and did not take well with unnecessary help or pity at all.

When House started quizzing his mother about some details of their last week, Cameron realized that he had been keeping up with Cathy's development and medical information all the time. While he had new ducklings by now, she had been filing his post long enough to register the new reports that arrived regularly every week, even though she had never actually read them. It was quite obvious that he was well aware of everything that had been going on with exception of the last days. On the other hand, she had long suspected that he read much more of his mail that he let on, there was just no other way to explain his vast knowledge.

During their talk it became clear as well, that his mother did not wish to live on her own and they were not sure whether she would be able to any longer. While she had kept the household going during the long absences of his father while he had still been on duty in the military, this had not been necessary for quite some time. She considered moving closer to her son, and House did not seem completely opposed to that idea, more thoughtful. Seeing that look on her son's face she continued: "Don't fret now. I will not be moving for quite a while, hopefully, I want to enjoy some time with David first." Recognizing the confused look on the younger people's faces, she pointed to the family friend who had supported her during the funeral.

House acknowledged that with a nod, grateful to be able to solve the problems one at a time, and ended the topic with: "Well, let me know when you change your mind."

* * *

Chase, Foreman and Cameron offered to start packing Catherine's stuff, which was all situated in her room on the second floor. Having seen the kid walk earlier, they wondered how she had even been able to navigate the stairs, but they shrugged off that thought shortly thereafter. If it had been a problem, she would probably have had a room on the ground floor.

They were surprised when House gave detailed instructions which furniture to pack as well, and looked questioningly to his mother, who only answered: "Greg bought these items for her, it is only fair that he takes them along." Quickly they realized they would not be able to fit everything in the cars they had brought. Even though they had used two cars, House's stuff already took up nearly all the space in the trunk of one car. And while Foreman did not exactly have a small car, there was just no way they would be able to fit the furniture together with her clothing and other stuff in there. So Chase wandered down again and got the name of a moving company to rent a trailer and with Blythe's permission grabbed some more boxes from the basement to pack up Catherine's things.

While Chase was certainly helping the other two pack, he managed to check in on House and Catherine regularly and unobtrusively. While carrying some stuff up or down the stairs, he often times stopped in the living room for some time to refill glasses and cups with water and coffee respectively. Usually House would detest behavior like that, but since he was not really able to move at the moment without waking Cathy, he appreciated the concern, especially when he realized he could not even reach his Vicodin. Thankfully Chase always carried a second bottle around.

Several of the older ladies tried to involve House in their discussions and sometimes he joined in for a moment, but got quiet as soon as the talk came to his father. They also tried to offer him a piece of cake more than once, but he declined politely every time. Chase watched him slightly resigned: House seldom refused food, especially unhealthy one that was brought to him, unless he was nauseous. He should by now know, how good of an actor his partner was, he realized and tried to remember whether House had had any breakfast. Even if the pain was not bad enough to induce nausea, which he was not sure about, the emotional turmoil of the last days combined with the crowd that could not be avoided right now would be enough.

* * *

A while later Catherine woke up again and kept watching all the people around her carefully. Several of the older ladies tried to ask her questions as well, but she only buried her face against House, who did not protest, and waited until they found another topic. After their attention was sufficiently diverted, House checked with her: "Have you already done your exercises today?" He was not surprised, when she answered by shaking her head. Even though he knew the therapist had prescribed them to be done three times a day, his mother had probably not been up to it the whole week, so he started especially slow.

While he did not see his little sister often, he knew her routine well from the medical files. It was soon clear, that she was only able to do about half of the stuff she had been prescribed, but he had expected that. Not willing to hurt her more than necessary he stopped for now and decided to slowly work their way up to the prescribed amounts over the next days. She would have to go to a new therapist either way, who would probably change the tasks, since he was neither willing nor able to drive out here every week just for a PT session.

Wilson had come back and taken the chair next to House at some point, neither Catherine nor House knew exactly when. He still looked tired and definitely not well, but not as exhausted as earlier. Throwing another glance at his friend, House took a pill bottle out of his now accessible again pocket, opened it and handed some pills to Wilson together with some water. On Chase's questioning glance, House signaled him that he would answer questions later and a quick look around confirmed that nobody else had watched the interaction.

About five minutes later Wilson looked much more awake and to the astonishment of several of the other guests, he could easily engage Cathy in a lively conversation even though nobody besides House was able to tell what exactly they were speaking about.

After his next trip downstairs with some more boxes Chase walked over to them and squatted down in front of Cathy. Together they told her, that she would come along with them this evening and live with them from now on, which was obviously a source for excitement. Being together with her beloved Uncle House and closer to Uncle Wilson seemed to be a wish come true. A bit surprised by her behavior Chase carefully tried to explain to her that they had already packed most of her things. Then he offered her his arms, so he could carry her upstairs and she could inspect the room and control, that they made no mistakes and did not forget anything. House was glad that she was taking to "her new friend Chase" so easily and fondly watched the two go.

Chase did not really want to leave House alone for too long at the moment, and therefore hoped to be able to leave Catherine with Cameron and Foreman to find any missing things, but he had felt her tensing up already and was not sure how well that would go. Upstairs Cameron was glad to finally really meet House's new girl and walked over quickly, only to make Catherine hide her face in Chase's neck as soon as she came closer. A bit disappointed, but not willing to overtax the clearly already distraught child, Cameron left for the kitchen, figuring there would be more work waiting.

Chase just resigned himself to staying on the second floor with Cathy and prepared to send Foreman down to run interference whenever the talking got to much for House, when Cathy initiated a conversation with an equally surprised Foreman: "Hi, I am Catherine! Who are you?" She had carefully pronounced each syllable, which astonished Chase, but he did not have time to ponder about that now.

After Foreman answered the question, Chase expanded: "You know, how your Uncle House has several people working with him? Foreman has been working for him a very long time now, we worked together for a while and then he kept working for House while I worked someplace else in the hospital. He is a good friend of mine and I am sure, he would like to be your friend as well." He waited a moment to give her the time to think that over, but before she could make a decision, he added: "I need to tell you a secret, though, he is a bit like your Uncle House: Even though he might sometimes look a bit grumpy about one thing or another, he would never hurt somebody and you can definitely trust him!"

Foreman was surprised by Chase's glowing recommendation and tried his best not to show that. Slowly he offered to take her and after another careful look, Catherine switched over, declaring that even though Foreman was smaller than Chase (and therefore obviously not as strong and as reliable as him), he had broad shoulders, making him strong as well, in contrast to Uncle Wilson, whose back was hurting too much today and Uncle House, who was strong in his head – and when he sat down. Both men had to struggle to keep from laughing after that statement.

"What's going on with Wilson?" Chase inquired, he had not really noticed anything off, but Foreman only shrugged his shoulders. "Back hurt! Uncle House knows" came Cathy's decisive answer.

"Okay." Chase wondered how Cathy knew better than them what was going on with the oncologist, but had to put considering that on his growing list of things he could not afford spending time on right now.

Not willing to delay any longer, Chase announced: "I am taking some more boxes down, okay?" He wanted to make sure before he left, that Cathy was really fine staying with Foreman to check the room, and was very glad when she agreed.

Gently Foreman explained to her why her room was so empty and asked her to make sure that nothing was left behind that she would want to have. Cathy nearly had a meltdown when she realized, that they packed the stuff from the middle part of the wardrobe as well, which she was not allowed to access at any time. Chase promised to clear that up with House's mother and then took the next set of boxes downstairs.

* * *

Cameron had been heading straight for the kitchen and started to refill drinks, putting away used plates and silverware and packing up some care packages for the neighbors to take with them. Upon seeing Chase standing next to House during one of her refill tours, she cautioned him against eating any of the food, since several items contained strawberries and one could not be sure the same knives had not been used for the strawberry-free items as well. They agreed to get some fast-food later on their way home and tried to convince House to have a self-made dinner together as soon as they reached their place. House did not seem delighted by that prospect but did not outright refuse the idea either, so they assumed this decision would be made later.

Foreman meanwhile was trying to figure out how to handle Cathy. Chase had told him earlier, that she was already seven years old, even though she looked only four. Her vocabulary was very simple, usually she used one or two word sentences to communicate, which was more appropriate for a child about two years old. She did not attend any school at them moment as far as he could tell, but she did not seem to be slow in her thinking, where she easily reached the level of a seven year old. Maybe she was even more advanced than that, but it was not easy to tell due to her limited vocabulary. Especially her observations earlier concerning the strength of the different members of House's team had been spot on, obviously she was very good at watching other people. From the short interaction he had seen, she seemed to use her findings not so much to mock others like House was fond of, but to try and help them. Her coordination however was atrocious, walking unaided had looked painful and unbalanced earlier and he had seen no indication, that she knew how to paint or hold a pencil at all. Wondering how to best handle the situation, he asked her once again to make sure they had packed everything that was important.

In response she ordered Foreman to let her down and turn around. Shakily she tried to walk across the room, but soon had to realize that she was not up for that at the moment without holding on to something. Not willing to let anybody know about her hiding spot, she got down to her knees to crawl over to a loose floor board where she kept some of her treasures, an old card board book and an even older looking teddy bear. After making sure to realign the board perfectly she crawled back to Foreman with her things before she allowed him to turn around. Foreman in the meanwhile had observed her doing in the window, even though that made it really hard for him to keep quiet. He lifted her back up on his arm and together they went back downstairs where he put her on the chair next to House, quietly playing with her bear.

A few minutes later she suddenly turned around to House and used her small hands to massage the sides of House's right leg. The few guests who knew House were very surprised that he allowed her to do that, and especially Chase was nearly interfering before he realized that this was obviously not the first time she had done that and House even seemed to enjoy it. He had never before seen him relax that quickly and that completely when a cramp was about to hit. A few minutes later Cathy went back to her quiet game as if nothing had happened and House swallowed a Vicodin, obviously tired but no longer in a greater than usual amount of pain. He even offered to read the book to her and soon they are both engrossed in the story of the three friends.


	3. Chapter 3: People are leaving

For the last half hour Cameron had tried her best to clear the chaos that was currently residing in the kitchen. She had collected the used plates from living room and loaded the dish washer, packed up the remaining food in several care packages and cleaned the bowls and serving trays as well. Now she was nearly finished. She had started the dishwasher a while ago and was stacking up the dried dishes, while Foreman and Chase were still loading the boxes into the car.

The first people prepared to leave and, determined to speed up the process, House got up and gave a short speech thanking everybody for their attendance and their show of support. If he looked a bit longer at his colleagues at these words than the rest of his audience, nobody of the other guests noticed.

Soon it became clear, that at least some of the guests could not easily get up from the soft sofas they were sitting on. Seeing them struggle, Chase left the last boxes to Foreman and offered his help. The first lady gladly accepted his support, while the others started to gush about the nice young man with the fabulous manners. He had no problem getting her upright, but obviously she was quite stiff after first all the standing at the graveyard and now the long period of sitting on a low sofa. Since she seemed to be in quite some pain as well and not completely stable on her feet either, he insisted on walking her to the car. While she managed the flat surface better the further they got, his support was greatly appreciated on the stairs.

Her son had parked in second row to spare her a long walk, and refused to get out of the car, not even to lend a hand. Soon she was situated in the backseat according to her wish, and Chase was informed, that Mrs. Wild would drive with them and would he please be so kind and help her to the car as well. Apparently they were good friends, and had moved into an apartment together to be able to help each other out without bothering their families.

Mrs. Wild had not even tried to get up by herself when Chase entered the living room but instead waited gratefully for the nice young man to help her. Cathy was currently watched by House and Wilson and kept them quite busy, thereby excusing both of them from helping. Cameron, however, had noticed what he was doing and stepped in to help from the other side, only to be warned: "Don't touch me!"

Slightly surprised by that reaction, Cameron tried to figure out what the actual problem was and was only partly relieved to learn it had nothing to do with the fact that she was a woman as she had feared at first. Her questions quickly revealed that Mrs. Wild got dizzy quite often and recently fell, and now her shoulder hurt too much to accept any support on that side. When Cameron started to carefully palpate the area, the lady was clenching her teeth to keep from screaming, and Cameron was pretty sure that her collar bone was broken and needed to be realigned. She suspected some ribs were broken as well and neither injury had received any medical attention as far as he could tell.

House had obviously observed the process closer than anyone thought and inquired now: "Collar bone and rib fracture?"

Cameron affirmed his guess: "Most likely, I would need to see some x-rays." She was wondering how to handle the situation. It was clear that the injury had not been treated so far, but it would not help to discuss the why now and here in front of her friends. On the other hand, they could not simple just sent her home this way in good conscience.

House mumbled something, that thankfully nobody understood. The ducklings were pretty sure it was something along the lines 'stupid' or 'idiots'. Then he ordered louder again: "Wrap it up, there should be some frozen vegetables around, probably green beans, use them."

Seeing their questioning looks his mother stepped in: "My husband loved them, Greg and I – not so much. He is right, I'll fetch some for you."

"Cameron, drive with them. There is a free clinic about twenty minutes away that should be open now. Make sure, they treat her correctly and she arrives at home safe and sound. I do not want to hear a story for years that we had five doctors here and in the end something happened that could have easily been prevented." Even though House sounded gruff when he gave out his orders, all in his team had gotten the message loud and clear: These people were friends of his mother and would therefore be treated with special care.

At first Mrs. Wild wanted to disagree with his order, she did not want to impose. But Cameron insisted, that it would be an honor and a good opportunity to see how another clinic was run, and after a while she relented. She had heard that all of them were good doctors and in high positions at that hospital they worked at, and obviously they were all convinced she needed to visit the clinic, so they actually might be right.

During their discussion, House's mother had brought back several packs of frozen beans from the kitchen. Competently Chase placed them along the collar bone, and wrapped a bandage around to hold them in place. Then he quickly prepared an arm sling out of the scarf the lady had worn earlier, and assisted her to put it on and get her arm in the correct position. Thus prepared he helped her to get up.

In the meantime, Cameron had quickly packed some of the care packages and the emergency medical kit she always took along on car rides, and was soon ready to go. Together they accompanied Mrs. Wild to the car, Chase actually supporting her and Cameron walking on her injured side prepared to step in at any moment if necessary. The stairs proved to be quite difficult since she could not hold on to the railing as she was used to, but under Chase's calm instructions and guidance she managed to get down, slowly and one step at a time.

They helped her into the passenger seat, and as expected, the driver was not amused to have been kept waiting so long. Reluctantly he listened to their request to drive them to the clinic instead of their apartment, but then agreed to do so without any fuss when he realized that actually was on his way. Obviously he was a very busy man, and had to pick up his son from baseball training on time.

This gave him a clear excuse to leave them alone at the clinic as well, and soon after dropping them off he was gone. At least he had helped his mother to the waiting area first, thereby leaving Cameron free to support Mrs. Wild. Apparently he had another appointment in the evening. He had let them know, that they should not expect him to pick them up afterwards, they could either take a cab or the bus. Both ladies did not seem surprised by this behavior, so Cameron kept quiet.

She had helped them fill out the paperwork and made sure, both ladies were fine as far as possible on their seats waiting for their turn. As she had expected, the doctors and nurses were completely overworked and would definitely not be able to see everybody before closing time in an hour. So she went to the counter and offered her services for the evening, hoping to speed up the process.

It took a moment to clear all legalities and find the person responsible to allow her request, but upon seeing her license they gladly accepted the help and soon she was treating one patient after the other. She was quite used to that kind of work from Princeton Plainsboro, especially while working under House she had filed numerous hours in the clinic to cover his hours as well. With her usual efficiency she managed to observe Mrs. Wild's case while treating her patients with care and compassion.

They did not close the clinic exactly on time, but they did not run over by much. Thankfully Mrs. Wild's break had not been as bad as she had feared at first, and she would not need to be treated in a hospital. They had been able to set the bone without an operation, and wrapped her shoulder tightly. Additionally they had given her a brace for her ribs, and, equipped with several sheets of instructions and a prescription for some pain medication, they were sent on their way.

Without asking for their opinion Cameron ordered a cab to take them to a pharmacy first and then to their place.

Upon seeing the state of their apartment, she decided to stay for a moment. It was late Friday afternoon, and Cameron was grateful for the internet and its 24/7 availability, which allowed them despite the time to set up some assistance services, the ladies were eligible for. Starting the next week, their food would be delivered by meals on wheels and some students from the area would help with the rest of the shopping and clean the apartment for a small fee. This program had been started in the college a year ago, and was part of an intergenerational study, so the students would mainly be rewarded in credits. They both had obviously done their best in keeping things going, but carrying something, bending down or stepping on a ladder was just not possible anymore and their families were not willing to do more than very occasionally offer their driving services.

She had still time to clean out the fridge, taking out all of the trash bags that had accumulated over the time and make a halfway decent dinner out of the few things that had not gone bad. While she was cooking she had instructed Foreman to bring some groceries when he picked her up later. The ladies had enjoyed the company as well as the meal and were sad, when Cameron had to leave shortly after Foreman had arrived, and they had unloaded the food, but hopefully with young people around regularly, their situation would improve.

* * *

At House's parents' house it had taken nearly another hour until all the guests were gone. Thankfully the others had been in a better condition. While several of them needed help getting up from the sofa and down the steps outside and many were very grateful for the care packages, nobody else needed direct medical attention or a hospital visit. Foreman had started lending a hand as well and even though he did not as easily manage to joke with the ladies as Chase did, they appreciated his help gladly.

Afterwards both of them loaded the furniture Foreman had earlier taken apart into the trailer, and together they finished that task quickly. Cleaning up the living room and the kitchen took more effort. While Cameron had done a great job with the plates and the cake before she left, now all the clean dishes needed to be put away. Additionally the living room was still littered with glasses and a few remaining plates, that had been in use during the earlier sweep. House's mother took care of the already clean dishes, which left Wilson and David to collect the used ones and to load the dishwasher, while Foreman and Chase tried to put back the chairs and tables where they belonged according to House's instructions.

In the end it had taken more than an hour before finally everything had been done and the colleagues could get on their way. Cathy did not feel the need to say goodbye to anyone in the town, obviously not even to House's mother, who seemed not surprised by that at all. Nestled against Chase's shoulder again, she watched them getting ready to leave and was visibly relieved when she did not have to walk on her own.

Chase had parked the car close to the house earlier after most of the guests had left, when he had loaded the last items like Cathy's car seat, and House clearly appreciated the effort. Since his mother had been watching, he had not accepted any help on the stair case, but had not admonished Chase for being nearby either. To their astonishment, Wilson had looked relieved when Foreman kept at his side as well.

Since they were not sure how well Cathy would be tolerating the long car trip, House joined her in the back again and Wilson got to drive shotgun with his seat scooted forward as far as he could tolerate to give House more leg room. When Chase switched on the radio – for once not fighting with House over the station – and started driving, all of them relaxed.


	4. Chapter 4: Surprises in the Restroom

**AN: It was asked in a review who "all the people" were: In short, they were the friends from Blythe House, who had been at the funeral earlier.**

 **Where I am from it is tradition that the guests gather after the funeral, either in a restaurant or directly in the deceased's house, and a meal, usually cake or sandwiches and coffee is offered. People talk about their remembrance of events with the person who passed away, and it is a time for all to slowly let go of the grief of the graveyard and start to smile about good and funny memories. While I am well aware that it is not the end of the mourning process, I always found it impressive, how the mood can slowly change from very subdued at the beginning of these gatherings to "normal" after one or two hours.**

 **So, back to the story...**

* * *

Well aware that neither of his passengers was good at tolerating long car trips and since he was quite hungry, Chase asked after only half an hour on the Interstate whether anybody else needed something to eat. They did not pack a lot of food, but Chase always kept some crackers and bananas in the car on known trips with House, since they often did not go exactly as planned.

All were quite surprised by Cathy's definite yes until they realized she had neither eaten nor drunk anything while they had been present. Shocked that they had neglected to notice that earlier and astonished that the little girl had not complained before, Chase chose the next resting area and let Foreman know where they could be found. Foreman had promised to get some more food for them as well before picking up Cameron so they would be able to eat something decent and without the stress of critical watchers as soon as he arrived.

They stopped in the handicapped parking stop right next to a picnic table and Chase put the bananas and the crackers on the table. Looking through the bags, that Foreman had put in his car earlier with the comment that it was stuff Cathy might need on the trip, he was confused to find several baby bottles and some formula. Carefully they asked Cathy what she usually ate and were all quite astonished when she pointed to the bottles and reported that usually she got three of them during a day.

House quickly thought back over the medical reports he had studied over and over again and could not find any reason for that strange treatment other than that her fine coordination was not the best and she might have a hard time learning how to use cutlery. He had never seen her eat anything on his visits, he realized, usually his mother had told him, that she had just eaten something. But there were no allergies noted and either way it was simply not healthy for any child of seven years to live only from baby formula. So House offered: "Would you prefer to try banana and some crackers instead?" Curiously she nodded.

While he mashed the banana and mixed some of the crackers with a bit of water to get a fine pulp – chewing was something she could learn on another day – he wondered how they should be giving that to her. Cathy was not supposed to sit upright too much to relieve the pressure on her spine and it cost her too much energy anyway. Especially sitting on a picnic bench without a backrest through the whole meal would be no fun for her at all. If she still got the bottle, she was probably used to eating in a half-reclined or lying position. She would definitely not know how to handle any cutlery, so they would need to find a position that allowed feeding her as well. In the end they decided to hold her exactly like they would a small child, that was still getting the bottle: She sat sideways between House's legs, leaning against his left arm, with her legs bent above his right leg without touching it. This left his right arm free to feed her both things alternately.

Chase helped a bit by holding onto the bowl and the plate and cleaning Cathy's face from time to time, but mainly he was grateful to be able to eat his own banana and some crackers. Realizing that Cathy had never drunk from a sippy cup, nevertheless a real cup or a water bottle, they filled some water in one of her baby bottles for now. Obviously the new food surpassed her expectations, she was delighted!

Afterwards Chase wanted to clean his fingers and assuming he would not be the only one needing to do that he offered: "I am going to the restroom, anybody else needs a bathroom as well?"

House wanted to go for sure, but first he watched very closely whether Cathy would answer. He knew that she still wore diapers and was not really sure why, medically he had never found a reason, but his mother had not been willing to discuss that topic at all. While his parents had reluctantly agreed, that he could get copies of her medical files, and sometimes recommend a specialist or treatment option, they had otherwise clearly discouraged his input or help. Not wanting to make the life for the little girl more stressful than it already was, he had mostly respected their wishes.

They had reluctantly accepted the presents he had given her every now and then, but had it made very clear that he had no rights regarding Cathy. They had even insisted from the beginning that she had to call him uncle, arguing that he was too old to be seen as her brother, and it would not be appropriate for her to call him by his first name only. Somehow he had ended up being Uncle House instead of Uncle Gregory or Uncle Greg as planned by his mother to his great amusement and their annoyance. He had seen her a few times over the years but not nearly often or long enough to notice any reasons for his parents' sometimes strange behavior. In his presence she seemed to be a happy little girl, thankful for any affection he offered and enjoying their time together.

When Cathy shyly affirmed that she wanted to visit the restroom as well, House was glad. At least she showed some initiative, maybe she just needed to learn how to use a toilet? Quickly he told Chase to fetch the diaper bag from the trunk, and even though Chase looked surprised, he acquiesced without further delay. If House had watched Cathy instead, he would surely have wondered about _her_ astonished look on that order, though.

Neither House nor Chase were sure whether Cathy would allow Chase to change her diaper. Both were pretty confident, though, that she would not manage to walk the whole way to the bathroom on her own and House was definitely not able to carry her. As stiff from the care ride and tired out by the day's emotional roller coaster as he was, he would have a hard enough time getting there on his own. So they decided, changing the diaper would be a two-man job today.

Cathy insisted on walking by herself and since she had not strained herself in the last few hours, they gladly allowed her to try. Without hesitation House hold his left hand for her to grab onto and Chase offered his right one. Chase was not really happy since she could easily impede House's balance this way, but it seemed to be a well-practiced action, so he would not say anything for now. And correct, after about half the way, when Cathy got tired, she did not try to go on any longer, but simply let go of House, lifted her arm in Chase's direction and requested once more: "Up!"

Chase kept the diaper bag and Cathy on his left side to be able to lent a quick hand to House whenever necessary, but since he had used the handicapped parking spot they reached the toilet quickly and without any obstacles.

Taking off the old diaper they got their next shock, though: Obviously it had not been changed in quite some time, and without her dress and the diaper it was clearly visible that the kid was underweight. Quickly realizing that the diaper bag was not equipped to handle the amount of dirt and wounds that needed to be dealt with, Chase went back to the car, fetching their medical bag as well as some wash cloth and towels he always kept in their overnight bags that were stashed in the car as usual. It took them quite some time to clean up the girl who was whimpering silently whenever House hit an especially sore spot. Chase was busy running from the changing table over to the sink to clean out the wash cloths over and over again, until finally House declared that he was done.

Asked whether she wanted to try and use the toilet, she agreed willingly to their astonishment. Chase carried her there and helped holding her. Even though it was only a minimal amount, Chase praised her clearly for using the big toilet before he took her back to the changing table to clean her up once more and then they put some cream on the wounds. Deciding it would be best to allow the cream to be absorbed completely first before putting on the new diaper, they decided to let her go bare-bottom beneath her dress at least until they reached the car.

After they had used the facilities as well, Chase offered: "Do you want to try how walking without a diaper feels?" and Cathy readily agreed. Again she managed only part of the way, even though it was not a long distance, but walking with the sore spots on her bottom and between her legs definitely had to hurt - and she had already been walking a good distance today.


	5. Chapter 5: Exploring the Playground

They had some time left before Foreman and Cameron would arrive at the rest area, and while they were slowly walking back to the bench Chase was debating what to do with that time. Then he noticed that Cathy seemed to shift through different moods quickly. "What is it, little lady, that you are thinking so hard about?" he finally asked her, when he could not figure out what had evoked that quick succession of facial expressions.

"There Playground. I can't go." came the despondent answer.

"You would like to go to that playground?" Chase checked back, not sure exactly what to make of her answer. "Why do you think you cannot go there?"

"Too far." Cathy responded without hesitation.

"Well, we have to wait for Foreman and Cameron to get here either way, so we easily have the time to go on the playground." Chase argued, still not sure where exactly the problem was.

But Cathy shook her head: "Too far. Can't walk, can't play. It's rule." She insisted.

Glad, that he finally had figured out what she wanted to tell him, Chase checked: "It was the rule at your old place, that you could only play on the playground if you could walk there on your own?" On her hesitant nod he continued: "Hmm, but you already walked all your steps today, your band is green, remember? All steps from now on are extra steps. The rule should not apply anymore if you have completed your steps."

Doubtful Cathy looked at House who had followed their discussion with slight amusement. While he knew that some rules might be necessary, he was against the strict environment his father always enforced and Cathy would find that out soon enough. So he encouraged her: "If you want to go on the slide, you need to be able to climb up some of the steps so it is better to be well rested. You are no longer living with my parents and we will not have that rule in our house, okay?"

Widely smiling Cathy turned to Chase again and asked: "Slides?"

"Yes, we can go to the slides and maybe the swings afterwards? I always liked the swings best. But let's pack away our stuff first and ask Uncle Wilson whether he wants to see how you are playing as well, okay?"

Slightly confused to be asked for her approval again, she nodded and snuggled into the comfortable place on Chase's shoulder again. Even though he had only one arm free, their impromptu dinner was quickly tidied up. Fetching some water bottles and their small medical bag from the car they slowly made their way over to the playground, where Wilson and House dropped onto the next bench, guarding the supplies. Chase and Cathy made their way to the slides first. They had to wait their turn and Cathy's lip began to quiver.

"What is wrong, Cathy?" Chase inquired.

"You catch me?" Cathy asked shyly.

Not sure how much help exactly was needed, Chase checked: "You want me to be there at the end of the slide and catch you when you are all the way down?" When she cautiously nodded, he assured her: "That's no problem, I did that for my sister all the time. Anything else, that you would like me to do?" Looking closely at the slide he realized that the steps were pretty low, but after her walking he was not sure how well she would be able to handle these. So he inquired: "Do you want to climb up from the bottom or from higher up?"

Obviously relieved that he had not mocked her or told her she could not use the slide, she responded more firmly this time: "Higher up."

By now they had reached the front place. The other kids were starting to make fun of "the girl that behaves like a baby", but Chase would have nothing of that. He set Cathy on the steps at the same height as she was on his arm. This gave her two more low steps to manage and then she had to sit down – which he realized would not be an easy feat for her. So he stayed firmly behind her, steadying her with his hands at her hips, and gave her all the time she needed to climb up the two steps before he helped her to sit down correctly.

Before he made his way to the end of the slide, he instructed the child behind her firmly: "You cannot push her! She will go and slide down as soon as she is ready, okay?" and when he saw the doubtful look he added: "She has a back injury, you can hurt her real bad if you are not careful." Reasonably sure that no harm would come to his little girl – Where did that come from? She was just joining their household today... – he quickly went to the other end of the slide and caught Cathy safely when she arrived beaming with joy.

So he was not surprised when she ordered: "Again!" and they repeated the whole procedure two more times. By then she was pretty wiped out and not sure she would be able to climb up the steps again and then hold herself upright for the slide down. Carefully she inquired: "Swings? Uncle House?"

"You want to go to the swings? Great, I love the swings! You would be doing me a great favor if you would allow me to take you to the swings today. How about we let House have some time with his friend today and the two of us enjoy the swings?" Chase knew that House would agree to go to the swings with Cathy if she really insisted, but one glance in his direction showed him that it would do him no good to do so now. Thankfully Catherine agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"If you like the swings with House so much, maybe you can teach me something? How do you use the swings together?" Chase inquired, and dutifully she answered: "Uncle sits, I lie, we swing." At this point he was glad, the bench that House and Wilson had chosen was near the swings, so he could get a bit more precise instructions if necessary. Quickly deciding that Cathy could use a quick breather and something to drink after all the excitement, he stopped by the bench. This gave him the double advantage of being able to check on House and Wilson as well as finding out what exactly Cathy had meant earlier when she described the swinging process.

He was really glad, when Cathy started to talk like every other kid: "Uncle House, you see? I slided three times! Whole way!"

Seeing the lines of pains on House's face Chase cringed slightly, hoping Cathy would not be disappointed by a typical House response, but to his astonishment his fear was completely unfounded. "You did great, Cathy, you even made it up the steps each time, I am really proud of you!" Then he asked slightly hesitant: "Let me guess, you want to go to the swings next?"

"Yes!" she responded with conviction, and then continued more haltingly: "Chase want swings."

Hearing that, House sounded relieved: "Chase wants to take you on the swings? That is great, I bet he loves it! Did you teach him how it is done correctly? What do you think, who should be the one sitting?"

Chase just loved watching the interactions between House and Cathy, he hoped he would get many more opportunities to see them chatting that relaxed.

"Silly, Chase sit, he is heavy." she responded giggling.

As often when he talked with Cathy, House wondered about her limited vocabulary. She seemed to have no problem following his sentences as long as he did not use too many medical terms, which was true for nearly everybody but the people he worked with. On the other hand she did only seldom even form a complete sentence, her logic was fine though.

"Oh, you are right, that might be a good idea, otherwise you are squashed at the end and we do not want that. So which way do you want to look?" House now inquired.

He knew that she had never been in school or even preschool despite being seven already, but even only interacting with his parents should have advanced her language skills well beyond the current level.

As expected, her answer was: "This" while pointing toward the bench that her uncles currently sat on.

If he wanted to enroll her in a school, she would definitely need to be in the special education program, even though he was not sure she had a learning disability.

"You want to make funny faces at us? Well, let's see what you come up with." he baited her before checking whether she remembered what he had taught her: "So, which way will you have to look when sitting down?"

For now he would try his best to encourage her to speak more and hopefully that would already lead to an improvement. Maybe it would be better to be homeschooling her for a few weeks to see what her actual potential was?

After only a minimal deliberation she responded "This" while this time pointing in the opposite direction. At her correct answer, he nodded approvingly and encouraged: "Well, then, off you go! And remember to hold on with your legs!"

Chase was slightly surprised about the last instruction, but then he realized what House had done with Catherine. While he usually carried her on his left hip, he now shifted her so that she was right in front of him before he sat down. Thankfully it was a tire swing, so that his whole thighs were laying flat on top of the swing. As soon as her legs were crossed behind his back, he helped her to lie down on his legs before he began to swing slightly, only to be prompted: "Higher!" by Cathy as well as House. Realizing that she was quite secure in her spot he enjoyed moving his body so the swing went higher and higher.

She seemed to enjoy that even though her head regularly was lower than her body, but she held on very well with her legs. Thankfully the other kids preferred to use the other equipment so they were not bothered at all and kept on swinging.

When Foreman finally arrived ten minutes later and Chase slowed down, Cathy was sleeping. Carefully he moved her in a better position for carrying and then they walked back to their bench by the car. He quickly put her in a diaper before laying her down on the backseat of their car.

Then they dug into their food while Cameron told them about the two ladies she had been helping. Slightly surprised Chase observed that House more than once moved some food around so Wilson could reach it easier and later even started to make a game feeding other people.

He often wondered whether Cameron really was that unobservant – he was pretty sure that Foreman had caught on but refused to openly acknowledge what was going on – or whether she was acting that well. Not wanting to disturb the relaxed mood he kept his questions to himself and joined the game whenever necessary. It was no coincidence though that he was giving Wilson a hand getting up from the uncomfortable bench before doing the same for House who for once gladly accepted the support.

While Wilson and Cameron headed for the restroom, Foreman turned towards Chase: "Wilson rides shot-gun with me, Cameron in the back with you?"

"Sounds good to me. Let's try to keep together, then we can simply switch on the blinker to signal when either one want to stop at a resting station, okay?"

House really wished to be home right now, but he knew quite well, that they had at least another two hours of driving ahead of them. He should offer to drive for a while, they had wisely chosen the car with the hand controls so he could relieve Chase, but he did not really feel up to it and thankfully Chase obviously did not expect him to, either. There were days when he felt really lucky to have the younger doctor by his side. Tiredly he went to the passenger seat, pushed the seat all the way back and tried to find a comfortable position before closing his eyes.

"Do you need help getting Cathy in her seat?" Foreman checked before he turned to his own car, which was parked a bit away since he had to use a longer parking spot to fit the trailer.

"I have never done that before, I am not sure." Carefully he lifted her up, considered crawling inside the car, but decided it would be easier to just walk around the car before he placed her in her car seat.

After fastening the seat belts, he gratefully accepted the pillow and blanket Foreman had fetched from the trunk and placed them around her, so she would hopefully stay asleep for a while. With Cameron riding in the back next to her she should be able to adjust anything that might move around too much.

Afterwards he made sure that a regular bottle of water was easily reachable for Cameron as well as the baby bottle for Cathy. "You need some water bottles, pillows or blankets for your car as well?" he turned to Foreman before equipping the front part of the car with two water bottles as well.

It was still warm outside so blankets were not really necessary if you did not need them to be able to sleep, but Foreman took one along for Wilson as well as water bottles. While he kept the usual emergency kit in his car and had brought his overnight bag along, he was not as well equipped as Wilson and Chase were used to.

While Foreman was heading back to his vehicle, Chase made sure to place a pillow under House's leg. On one of their longer drives they had figured out, that placing a squishy cushion there greatly reduced the pressure on his thigh and from then on always kept one or more in the car. In the end he covered House lightly with a blanket as well and as soon as Cameron and Wilson were in their respective seats, they continued their journey home.


	6. Chapter 6: Another Rest

House had closed his eyes as soon as he sat down in the car and since he was in desperate need for some sleep, he had soon drifted off. Only a few minutes later though he was roughly awoken again by a small pot hole they rolled through while driving onto the interstate again. Right now he would have preferred to be alone or at least only to have Chase around. He was not sure how much longer he would be able to keep up his mask and not let on, how bad he was feeling, but being alone was not possible at the moment and he did not want to show any weakness in front of Cameron.

He was still not sure whether he was more sad or angry, but the amount of his emotions resulted in him tensing up more and more, which in turn increased the pain in his leg. Despite the pillow he could barely tolerate the car ride and waited fervently for it to be over.

Chase had noticed the uneven breathing and asked him quietly whether he should pull over. Sometimes a while outside the car, walking around and not having to endure the aggravating vibrations helped a lot, but they had only been in the car for about half an hour. While he would have preferred to get out of the car right now, he mainly wanted to be home, and it would only be later until they reached their destination if they kept stopping so often. So House told him to keep driving, and closed his eyes again, not because he was relaxed or asleep, but to prevent the others from speaking to him. For a while Chase had tried to distract him from the pain, but when he realized that House wanted to be alone with his thoughts for a while, he let him be. For a moment he rested his hand silently on House's left leg to offer some comfort, and as always tried to do his best to avoid all potholes and other unevenness in his driving.

House was miserable. Usually after a hard case he used the next day or two to relax away from other people besides his closest friends, which allowed him to keep off his leg as much as he needed. After their last case he would have loved to do that as well, but instead they had gotten up early in the morning, and his leg had already been in more pain than he wanted to when they started out the day. The strain he had put on it during the funeral had not helped at all, and by now he was working hard to keep himself from groaning. He could not suppress some tears any longer, though, and so he turned towards the side window, hoping to prevent Chase that way from noticing how bad it was. It would not do to distract Chase while he was driving, and Cameron definitely did not need to know either. Unfortunately this position put even more pressure on his right leg, and he had to bite the inside of his cheek to hold back his moans. Several times he shifted around again to find a more comfortable position.

Thankfully even Cameron seemed tired by now. She was sitting in the back with her eyes closed, and was probably asleep already. For quite some while not one word was spoken in the car, and the only sound was the rustling of House's clothes when he moved a bit once more.

They had driven for quite some time, when Cathy woke up. At first she nearly panicked due to the fact that she was sitting in the car and Cameron right next to her, but Chase managed to calm her down by talking to her, while keeping his steady driving pace of seventy-five miles per hour. When she looked around and realized that Chase and House were there as well, she relaxed back into her seat, watching the scenery flying by.

When Cameron opened her eyes shortly thereafter, Cathy even accepted her offer to read out loud the book, that House had left on the back seat earlier. Seeing her water bottle closeby Cathy tried to reach for it, but the brace together with the seat belt were holding her back, efficiently preventing her action. Cameron had noticed her attempt and fetched the normal water bottle first, but then she quickly realized that the baby bottle had to be for Catherine and handed it over instead. Not the worst idea actually, she quite agreed with their approach, otherwise she would have surely needed cleaning up.

After Cameron had read several chapters Cathy asked shyly for a toilet. Chase was amazed that she had taken the initiative and just hoped she was able to hold it in until they would reach the next rest area. Thankfully they were quite near to a Welcome Center, and Chase signaled Foreman to get off the interstate. While Foreman had to park his car further away again to accommodate the trailer, Chase pulled onto one of the closer handicapped parking spots.

Without waiting for the other passengers, he grabbed the diaper bag and lifted Cathy on his arms, hurrying to the nearest toilet. They made it in time, and when he afterwards noticed that her diaper was still completely try, he could not hold back his praises any longer. Unfortunately it looked like there was blood in her urine. He was not sure whether that was a new thing or had been going on for longer. Her last diaper had been so dirty that he could not be sure. Even though he was determined to get that tested as soon as possible, she did not seem to be in more pain than usual and did not have a fever, so he would definitely not call an ambulance or make a stop at an unknown Emergency Center on their way. Unfortunately he did not bring anything with him to collect a sample now, but he figured he could not do anything while they were still driving either way, and as long as her condition did not worsen drastically, tomorrow would be early enough for a test. For a moment he considered taking her to the hospital first thing when they were back, but in the end decided to wait for House's opinion.

After cleaning her up carefully once more and applying some more healing cream onto the sore spots, he put a new diaper on – and then had his hands full with a hyperventilating obviously panicking little girl. He tried his best to calm her down, but at the moment he was not sure whether they would manage without an ambulance and strong sedatives. He even considered carrying her back to House during her attack since he assumed that she would respond better to his voice, but getting through the crowd of people outside would probably increase her anxiety. Additionally, House had not really been in the condition to deal with anybody else's problems when he left the car.

Finally her breathing began to slow down again a bit, it seemed he might be able to handle the situation without outside help. It still took him nearly ten minutes until she was calm enough to explain to him, that diapers were very expensive and she could only have one per day.

Well, he thought, if they taught her how to use a toilet, it might even make sense to put the same diaper on again afterwards as long as it was still clean and only changing to a new one the next day. Using a diaper instead of underwear was not the worst idea for some kids that felt insecure, but the one they had taken off earlier had definitely been on longer than reasonable.

However, he had no time now to ponder the standards in her old household, he needed to come up with a good answer, that would work in her view of the world. Even though he was quite sure he would regret it later, he finally explained to her, that her Uncle House had some money – which she believed easily since the nice furniture had been from him as well – and was well able to afford a new diaper every time it was dirty. Seeing her still not fully convinced face he added, that for now she even got a new one as present for every time she managed to go on the toilet.

Crisis averted, he thought, when she smiled brilliantly at that statement and he started to pack together their things and washing their hands.

When they finally got back to the cars, Cameron had just left for the restroom and Foreman was clearly waiting for him. Chase could not see Wilson or House, but was not surprised about the second one, he was probably still sitting in the car, enjoying the absence of vibrations.

Without further ado Foreman inquired: "Do you know what is wrong with Wilson?"

Chase thought back over all the situations during the last days and weeks, that he had not really registered at that time and responded slowly: "I am not sure, he seems to be having trouble getting up from a sitting position from time to time, sometimes so bad that he accepts House's help. Earlier he appeared to be in pain as well. I had not really noticed until today, but House knows what is going on and apparently controls the medication as well. Did you ask him?"

On Foreman's unbelieving frown, Chase added: "Right, let me try. I'll join you shortly."

Clearly hearing the dismissal, Foreman went back to their car and Wilson, who had by now managed to undo the seat belt, and started to turn a bit towards the door, even though it was still closed.

Chase went back to their own car to figure out what to do next, but getting closer, he noticed that House was starting to get worked up. He had to bite down a sigh, he did not want to deal with another panic attack right now. Hoping to starve it off before it really started, he kept up a running commentary while he quickly put Cathy back in her car seat. He would not fasten the seat belt for now, and she was easily content with the situation when he handed her the bear she had been playing with earlier.

As soon as she was safely deposited and busy, he headed around the car to House's seat, squatted down, placed his right hand on House's left leg and with his left hand stroking along on House's right arm he inquired quietly: "Hey, what's going on?"

"You are asking me? What were you doing? You were gone forever!" The irritated reply came without hesitation, but House was simultaneously working hard on getting his breathing under control again and clearly trying not to shout too loud for Cathy's sake.

"We had a discussion about your financial assets." tried Chase to joke before he explained calmly and more seriously: "I had to convince Cathy that you are able to afford a new diaper whenever the old one is dirty and that for now she gets a new one as a present every time she manages to use the toilet. Unfortunately it took me a while to figure out what the problem was."

By now House was relaxed enough to notice the sweat patches all over Chase and the slightly worn out features. Knowing his intensivist's ability to handle stressful situations, he was pretty sure that his little sister had had a full-blown panic attack and Chase had not been sure he would be able to handle it without medication.

"She okay now?" House inquired.

"Yeah, she is much better." After a glance towards the back seat, he amended: "She is already asleep from the exhaustion."

"You okay?" House checked next.

"I'm fine." Chase replied without delay.

House snorted, but did not comment on that obvious lie.

Chase stood up to check that Cameron was not back yet before he requested: "Tell me what I need to know about Wilson. He is not doing so hot right now."

"Shit." swore House, already preparing to get up. But Chase stopped him with a firm hand on the shoulder.

"Hey, stop that. You are not helping, if you pass out trying to get to him and somebody needs to stay with Cathy. Just tell me what I need to do." Chase insisted.

"I need to see how bad it is to be able to tell you that." came the resigned response.

Chase tried to see what was going on at the other car. "He stayed in the car while Foreman came to meet me. It looked like he started to turn to get out, but the door was still closed. At the moment Foreman is standing in the open door and obviously wondering how to help him exactly. Wilson is facing outward by now but does not do anything to get out, his arms are still on his lap." he reported dutifully.

"Damn!" was House first response. "He _can_ probably not lift his arms right now. You will have to guide his movements. If you feel resistance, watch his face closely, usually you can push past it and it gets better, but the pain might get too bad before you reach that point. Try to get him up and moving a bit, he should do his exercises as well. If he does not tell you: Mobility for all joints and especially the spine."

Chase nodded: "You okay here for now?"

"Yeah." came the answer, not really reassuring Chase, when House simultaneously leaned back and closed his eyes again.

But he promised to help Foreman, so Chase made sure that House had his cell phone close by and prompted: "Call me – if you need anything or if we take too long or you have a better idea." Then he headed over to Foreman's car.

Wilson was facing the floor at the moment, and was obviously trying to avoid any movement. With a glance Chase directed Foreman to the other side of the car and knelled down before Wilson, resting his hands on Wilson's legs. "Hi" Chase greeted Wilson quietly. He got no answer, which was probably to contribute to the amount of pain Wilson seemed to be in, but he did not really want to work without having established a way for feedback first.

"Can you place your hands on top of mine?" he tried again. He was already determined to mix massage and mobility exercises, feeling how tense Wilson was. Even though their hands were already close together, it took quite some time until Wilson had managed to move his arms so far, that their fingers partially overlapped. Prompting Foreman with a slight gesture to massage Wilson's back, he started with mobility exercises for hands, arms and shoulders. They could easily do most of these in the car.

It took more than quarter of an hour of their combined efforts until Wilson was able to get out of the car with their assistance and they were able to finish guiding him through the exercises for his spine and hips on the blanket-covered grass between the parking lanes. Wilson clearly had been in a serious amount of pain several times during the therapy routine, but every time they asked him, he told them to go on and at the end he apparently felt much better.


	7. Chapter 7: Advanced First Aid

It was getting late by now, but Wilson seemed determined to stay upright and move around for a bit longer and Chase wanted to use the restroom himself either way, so they extended their stay on the rest area.

Cameron meanwhile seemed to have chosen to get back into the car and was reading some medical journal while Cathy was still sleeping.

House had announced he would accompany Chase to make sure the good-looking intensivist did not get molested in the bathroom, which led to Wilson and Foreman rolling their eyes before they continued their walk as far as the rest area allowed. House definitely did not appreciate the extension of their trip, his leg was hurting fiercely and he was stiff from sitting so long. While he managed to haul himself up to a standing position, he looked dejectedly at the way to the center. It was not that far, but definitely further than he wanted to walk right now, unfortunately he really needed to use the restroom. Thankfully, after about ten steps they were no longer in Cameron's field of vision and he could lean on Chase without any witnesses except for total strangers.

The Welcome Center was still very full, obviously several buses had stopped at the rest area recently. Without a comment Chase switched over to House's right side when they reached the entry doors in order to prevent people from bumping into House's leg. Apparently that had been a really good idea, he barely managed to catch a toddler that was running and slipped on the floor and would have barreled into House. Some steps further a lady chatting with her friends would have run into the by now really frazzled looking House without Chase's interference.

To avoid any more similar incidents Chase carefully directed House to the handicapped restroom. While he did not strictly speaking need the special adaptions on a regular basis, it would do House good to have a moment of quiet and rest and there was definitely more space in there. Chase had kind of expected House's behavior. While he was usually astonishingly good at navigating crowds – a necessity when working in a hospital and especially the clinic – despite needing a cane and being not completely stable on his feet, today he had clearly reached his limit. Had they been in Princeton, he would probably have stayed in his office with closed doors for several hours by now. For somebody who was not very social, House had interacted with a lot of people for a long time today.

They had been able to slip into the restroom together and both took their time, until House was no longer shaking from the adrenaline rush and felt able to face the crowds again. With Chase firmly implemented at his right side, half a step in front of him, so he could still offer full support but would be able to run interference before people got to House, they looked for the shortest way to the exit.

They were right next to a bench when suddenly an older man asked slightly confused: "Ann, what is going on? Ann?" and with a quick "Go!" House pushed Chase towards the couple while at the same time sinking down on the bench. Chase arrived just in time to catch her when her husband had no longer the strength to hold his swaying wife upright. Directing the husband to sit next to House, Chase started to access the situation. As always they fell into a well established pattern. Chase was as an intensivist better equipped to handle critical situations like these, whereas House was quicker in deducing the underlying problem. Additionally kneeling on the floor next to a patient would not have been a good idea right now for House either way.

Nevertheless House was slightly astonished to hear: "Get Foreman here and tell him to bring our bag, stat!" nearly immediately, but did not hesitate to call their colleague and order him to do exactly that. At the same time he listened to the stream of information coming his way, as Chase determined all vital values he could without further equipment. Next he called the emergency department and started feeding information towards them, at the same time listening to his duckling, observing the patient for changes and asking the husband for further information. The operator had a hard time to note down all the data as fast as it was relayed. He was more experienced to deal with panicked callers who repeated their observations several times and forgot other details.

"Hey, why did you need me to bring _your_ bag?" asked Foreman, when he arrived shortly thereafter, with a glance at the patient at the same time starting to pull out a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope and handing it over to Chase. "Better equipped." was all the answer he got before they fell into their long practised rhythm of treating a patient. And Foreman was impressed by the amount of medication that was in the bag, they had more advanced stuff than a standard ambulance. By the time the EMTs finally arrived, they had revived their patient two times already and were still frantically working on getting her stable enough for the transport.

The EMTs were not really sure what to make of that call. It had taken them nearly twenty minutes to get there and on the whole way they had received steady status updates on the patient as well as medication she had received, that was usually only available in a hospital. They came from a small village and had never had a call like this. Feeling a bit in over their head, especially after arriving at the scene and seeing two men already working on the patient, from time to time conferring with a third in a pace and advanced medical jargon they had a hard time keeping up with, they wondered what they were supposed to do now.

So they were not really surprised, when they were not allowed to take charge of the situation, but instead to be used as poles for holding up saline infusions. Additionally they were ordered around to fetch more equipment from the ambulance, that had apparently not fit into the doctors' bag.

Seeing the husband paling, one of them did a quick check on him as well, and got him a glass of water. He looked better soon afterwards. The stress had been a bit much at his age, but for now he was stable and did not require medical attention.

Another ten minutes later things slowly calmed down and then the blond doctor pronounced: "Okay, she is ready for transport. The nearest hospital that is able to deal with her situation is in Princeton, get her to Princeton Plainsboro." And the man on the bench interrupted: "They need to have a doctor in the ambulance. The ride is long and you have already administered several drugs, they are not familiar with."

"If one of you wants to ride along, we can not take her husband, we do not have enough seats." interjected one of the EMTs and the black guy acquiesced: "Okay, let's send Cameron. I'll stay with Cathy until you are packed up. Mr. Baker can ride with you. If we keep Cameron on the line during the ride, she can ask us whenever she is not sure."

House and Chase nodded at that, and with a sigh House took out his phone and dialed Cameron's number. One of the EMTs however contradicted: "It would be better if one of you came along. You already know what you did! Why sent somebody else?"

"Because Cameron can not drive a car with a trailer." answered Foreman part of the question. He did not really want to tell them, that he wanted to have House with him in case Wilson got worse and Chase was needed to drive the second car, since neither House nor Wilson were up to commandeering a vehicle today – and leaving House and Cathy alone with Cameron was a recipe for disaster. The EMT wanted to argue again, but held back when he saw the angry glares in his direction.

House was trying to speak with Cameron who sounded completely frazzled and could not really be heard over Cathy's crying. Obviously the little girl had woken up and panicked when neither House nor Chase were in sight. Even Wilson's arrival had not really helped. They had been trying to calm her down together, but it did not seem to do much good. "Hold the phone, so she can hear me!" ordered House frustrated, wondering why they had not called him earlier, and then started to talk calmly to her over the phone. It did not take long before she only hiccuped and House could start to tell Cameron what was going on inside and that she should join them.

Chase had in the meantime helped loading the woman onto a stretcher and then taken out his own phone to dial Wilson's number, making sure Cathy and he were fine while they packed up their stuff. Cathy was obviously not familiar with cell phones and kept looking around to figure out from where Chase was talking according to Wilson's report, but otherwise she seemed okay now.

When the EMTs took the stretcher outside, Foreman walked along together with the husband. Cameron had met them at the doors, still listening to House instructions, and together they loaded the woman in the ambulance. When the ambulance left, Foreman guided the husband to House's car, and helped him to settle down next to Cathy. She was a bit shy about getting to know another new person today, but Chase had already told her in simple words what had happened.

At some point she had not been willing to stay in her car seat any longer and knelt down on the back seat instead. Now she reached over and putting her small hands on his arm told him determinately: "Not sad. Uncle House best! Cam good!" which brought a twinkling to Foreman's eyes. On the questioning glance he translated for the husband: "She thinks you should not be sad. Doctor House is the best doctor and if he trusts Doctor Cameron she has to be very good at what she is doing. I have to agree with her, Cameron is the head of Emergency Medicine at Princeton Plainsboro, she is the best person to be in the ambulance right now."

Then he addressed Wilson and Cathy as well as the husband: "Can I offer anybody something to drink or a snack?" The men denied the offer, but Cathy pressed the water bottled insistently into the hands of the husband. Then she looked hesitatingly at Foreman, but did not request anything. Seeing her glance, Foreman inquired: "Did you want something to eat, sweetheart?"

Wilson, who was still fighting against pain flaring up from time to time had not watched their interaction until now, and turned to Cathy: "I'll prepare you a bottle for now, okay?" Not even waiting for her to answer first, he went to do just that. If he had observed House's interaction with Cathy correct earlier, he guessed she would not ask for food until nearly starving, and Chase had clearly insisted he did so over the phone.

As he had expected, she had tried to get back into her seat and obviously Foreman had helped out at the end. When he handed over the bottle, she looked slightly dejected and thinking it had to do with the fact that she would have preferred different food, he offered: "Here you are. Sorry, we have nothing better for now, tomorrow you can help me cook something." She seemed to be reluctant to take the bottle and drank only very slowly, even though she seemed to be quite hungry. Confused Wilson asked: "What is wrong, sweetie?" only to be told by Chase: "Hold the phone to her ear, now!"

Whatever he had said to her seemed to have worked, she looked much happier afterwards and sucked on her bottle until it was completely empty. Seeing that she was content for now, Wilson stepped away from the car and inquired: "What did you tell her?"

"Just that House has enough money to afford however many bottles she can drink..." came the cryptic answer. "Are you okay at the car? We have packed up here and will be back shortly."

Guessing correctly that Chase wanted to put away his phone to have both hands free, Wilson confirmed: "Yes, we are good here for now, Cathy is just settling down to sleep either way. See you soon!" and ended the call.

House felt slightly bad about not being able to give Chase a hand with packing up all the stuff they had pulled out of the bag, but squatting down was definitely not an option at the moment. He had prepared to get up a few minutes ago but had to abort that idea before even Chase noticed what he was about to do when his muscle spasms increased. Massaging his thigh he talked Cameron through one more cardiac arrest, having her check for different signs so she might be able to catch any arrhythmia early the next time.

Shortly thereafter Chase was standing in front of him, obviously he had ended his call with Wilson and gestured for the mobile House was talking into. Since the patient was stable at the moment, he handed it over, only to have Chase make the same request again: "Hey Cameron, you good for a few minutes? - No, nothing is wrong here, we just have to get back to the car, we'll call you from there. - If something comes up in the meantime, call Foreman or me, okay? - Yeah, hear you soon, bye!" Then he handed back the phone to House and offered him a hand up.

Thankfully there were no longer as many people around, some of the personal had hold off the visitors earlier while they were still working on the patient and afterwards all buses had left. Soon House was standing on his left leg, leaning against Chase with his left side and on the cane with his right arm. Carefully he put his right leg down on the floor, but did not put any weight on it when he felt the spasms running through it by the small motion. Since he had a good support on both sides, he figured it might work out nevertheless and started walking trying to put as little weight on his leg as he could get away with at the beginning.

They made their way back to the car very slowly. Knowing he would have to go to physiotherapy if his muscles deteriorated further, House dutifully put down his right leg with every step, and let it give as much support as possible before it would falter. Thankfully this time, it got a little better with walking and by the time they were visible from the car, he was once more able to walk on his own, only supported by the cane, even though Chase kept directly to his left, prepared to catch him should he stumble. Cathy was already sleeping and the husband very impatient to get to his wife, so they started driving without further delay, House again on the phone with Cameron as soon as he had fastened the seat belt.


	8. Chapter 8: A Late Hospital Visit

They were quite a bit behind the ambulance, since they had needed to pack up their stuff and could not go much over the legal speed limit with their car.

Cameron had ended the phone call when the ambulance had arrived at the hospital claiming she was not able to speak with more than two people at the same time and House seemed glad for it as well. While his adrenaline had helped keeping him going for the last hour, he clearly felt his exhaustion and pain by now again.

Closing his eyes, he hoped for a moment alone, and was clearly not amused to be interrupted by his partner a while later: "House, since we have to go to the hospital either way, do you want me to check out Catherine?"

"What?" came the unintelligent response.

"I noticed some blood in her urine earlier, I think she should have a general physical as soon as possible." Chase explained his thinking.

Before House could answer, his phone rang again, and it became clear that they had a new case. They would be needed to treat Mrs. Baker, since nobody could figure out why she deteriorated that quickly and Cuddy obviously had ended the dispute between the departments with her decision to assign it to him. Since they would have to rule out cancer, Wilson might be needed soon as well, not an ideal situation at all, but it could not be avoided. Giving Cameron some more instructions on how to start the treatment and which tests to schedule, House hung up to call Wilson.

"Hey, tell Foreman we have a new case and need to stay at the hospital for a while. You can crash either on your sofa or in my chair or you can take a cab home, you okay with that?" he informed the only moderately surprised oncologist.

"House says you have a case, we need to go directly to the hospital." he heard Wilson inform the neurologist, before continuing unenthusiastically through the phone: "I'll stay at the hospital. See you there."

House just hoped that Wilson would ask Foreman for help should he need it and that Foreman would be attentive enough to realize if something was wrong even if Wilson hid it as he was wont to do.

Then he remembered Chase's request again and turned to him: "Let's just take some blood and if possible a urine sample from Cathy for now. She has had more than enough procedures done lately that did not yield any results. We can simply check her records, if we need them." He made his decision, and after a moment added: "Can you handle that while I check on Mrs. Baker and hopefully we can all go home in a few hours?"

"Of course." Chase replied calmly after a brief look at House. He wanted to ask whether House was sure that he did not want to examine Cathy himself, but figured there was some reason behind the tired request, even if it only was to spare the small girl from the mood House would surely be in as soon as he was forced to walk around the hospital.

Additionally he wondered if House was sure he would be able to deal with their patient without his help. As an intensivist her care right now fell right into his specialty, but House was well able to get other doctors to do his bidding if necessary and he would have both Cameron and Foreman at his beck and call, possible in addition to his new ducklings as soon as they showed up. They were a well-oiled team and worked well together whereas Cathy would probably not accept Foreman nevertheless Cameron to treat her.

He thought about using the emergency entrance to drop off House and Mr. Baker but decided to park the car directly in House's spot instead. While it increased the amount of walking House would have to do, it gave him a better opportunity to walk off the stiffness before he had to face people he knew. He considered picking Cathy up first, but she was still sleeping deeply, so he figured, he better gave first Mr. Baker a hand up out of the car. He just considered walking the man in and coming back to check on House and fetching Catherine, when a nurse came out the Main Entrance, smiling reassuringly towards the husband and greeting him: "Hi, you must be Mr. Baker. Your wife woke up a minute ago and started asking for you. I'll take you to her if you allow?" and started guiding the older man away.

House had opened the door in the meanwhile and started to lift his bad leg out of the car but was now sitting halfway curled around it. Chase really wished he had Cathy's magic hands and would be able to calm down the spasms as easily as she had done earlier, but he was determined to at least give it a try. Without hesitation he squatted down in front of House.

Observing the diagnostician carefully, he gently placed his hands House's thigh. When they were not pushed away immediately and he did not hear any verbal complaints, he started a mild massage, using his hands as heating pads and trying to soothe the muscle first. After a while he intensified his efforts steadily until he had managed to dispense the worst knots and the muscle stopped clenching. It took a few minutes but then his partner uncurled and looked oddly grateful and ashamed at the same time: "Hey, don't." he admonished him slightly. "Remember when I had the headache last month? Your massage was definitely a lot more professional and longer!"

Reluctantly House nodded, carefully moving the left leg out of the car and beginning the process of levering himself up to a standing position. To his surprise his leg did not cramp up again and he nearly smiled leaning against the car while he waited for Chase to hand him his cane. He just hoped the effect would hold on until he was done for the day.

Chase lifted Cathy carefully onto his left hip, leaning her head against his shoulder without waking her, and together they made their way to the door, where House went directly to the Emergency Department, while Chase looked for an empty exam room.

* * *

Foreman had wondered where to park a car with a trailer on the hospital parking area before he realized that it was late enough that most employees had already left for the day, and only the much smaller night shift was on duty. So he took two of the nearest parking spaces that were not handicapped spots or reserved for one of the department heads and pulled the car in so he was taking up both spots. Even though he knew he was needed inside, he had not forgotten how hard it had been for Wilson to get out of the car earlier, so he stepped around to give him a hand.

Despite the tiredness he must surely feel by now, Wilson had not sat still at all during the last bit of their ride but rather been fidgeting around. Opening the door for him now, Foreman realized why: He had been moving his joints, so they would not stiffen up as badly and was therefore able to turn around and get up with only minimal assistance. Like before he kept holding onto Wilson's elbow for a few steps until he was sure, that the oncologist would not fall down if left to his own devices. Inside their ways parted, Wilson would try to find a spot to lie down for a while, whereas Foreman hurried to the Emergency Department.

* * *

Chase used the opportunity while Catherine was still sleeping to perform a quick evaluation, and take some blood. As he had expected the last procedure woke her up, but she was not complaining about the pain, only watching him closely. "I see, you are a pro at that!" he commented friendly, and inquired: "Do you think you can go to the toilet again, so we can take a urine sample as well?"

Seeing her nod hesitantly, he gave her something to drink, and quickly tidied up the room before taking her to the restroom. A few minutes later they were on their way to the lab and the rocking of his steady pace lulled her back to sleep quickly. He had raided a storage closet on the way, and shortly after their arrival in the lab, Cathy was laying in a bed made out of several blankets on the floor of the lab, so he could watch her while he tested the samples.

It did not take long to figure out, that it was a simple urinary tract infection, which should be going away on its own, if her immune system was working correctly or they could assist the process giving her antibiotics. He would have to check with House what he wanted to do. He was not sure, whether the little girl had any known allergies. To his astonishment her blood work otherwise had not shown any abnormal levels. Obviously formula was more balanced that he would have thought possible.

As suspected he found his partner half sitting, half laying in the recliner that somebody had moved into the conference room. Wilson was sleeping uneasily on the floor on what appeared to be about ten blankets and had deep pain lines in his face, but did not seem to be disturbed by the quiet DDX that was going on. Foreman looked dead on his feet standing next to the white board and trying to keep up with House, who was as usual brainstorming over the symptoms and possible treatments.

They had obviously not called in the new ducklings, which could have two reasons: Either House did not want to disturb them unnecessarily on a Friday evening for a simple case, or he did not want them to see him in his current state and Wilson in pain. Having known House for several years, he was pretty sure the second option was the reason.

He waited for a break in their discussion before announcing his presence: "Hey, Cameron still with the patient?" On their confirming nod he continued: "You want me here or with her?"

House shrugged: "She is stable for now, Cameron will page us, if they need help with her."

"Okay, then let me ask one more question before you update me on the patient: Is Cathy allergic to any antibiotics? She has a common urine tract infection, I was not sure whether you wanted to wait for her immune system to fight it off or whether you want me to prescribe something for her directly."

"She has a fever?" House sounded surprised.

Chase frowned: "No, she doesn't, I checked."

"So her immune system is not fighting the infection. Start her on Augmentin, the liquid form, I know that she tolerates that fairly well. We'll figure out why her immune system is not working correctly, when we know more about her other habits."

After that they went back to their differential and when they had decided the next course of treatment, they left Cathy with House and both Chase and Foreman went to the pharmacy to fetch the drugs for their respective patients. Chase used that chance to restock their emergency kit and doctor's bag as well. It would just not do, should something happen and they did not have their usual medications and equipment at hand.

Chase could not avoid the smile that crossed his face, when he came back to the diagnostic department: Cathy was curled up half kneeling on House again with House's big hands holding her in place safely, and both of them seemed to be fast asleep. Seeing that, Chase left a bottle for Cathy already prepared in the warmer, the medicine as well as the diaper bag well within House's reach on a chair he had dragged close, before he left again to give Foreman a hand.

They had a few close calls with Mrs. Baker and considered paging House several times, but always managed to stabilize her just in time. Finally the treatment helped, she was stable and her values improved steadily. It was early morning already, and for a moment Foreman and Chase debated whether it wouldn't be wiser to just stay at the hospital and handle whatever the next day would bring, but since it was Saturday and their case was hopefully solved, they decided sleeping in their own beds would do everybody good, especially House and Wilson.

Cameron decided to stay at the hospital, she was on call for the Emergency Department during Saturday either way and would not have the time to go home. She volunteered to stay with their patient for another hour, and then grab a quick shower and breakfast before starting her shift.

So Chase and Foreman headed back up to the Diagnostic Department, and Chase offered: "You want to crash on our couch?"

When Foreman just raised his eyebrow he elaborated: "Wilson will be sleeping in the guest room and I would appreciate a hand getting him there safely. We need to unload the trailer and your car at our place either way, so you could just come over now when people are starting their day and you will definitely get a decent parking spot."

Foreman smirked: "A totally selfless offer, I see, but yeah, let's do it that way. I am not looking forward to driving through half the city at the weekend with all the shopping traffic either way, your place is much more convenient."

House was awake by the time they got to the department and had obviously just fed and changed Cathy without getting up once.

"Mrs. Baker is stable – again – and her values are finally improving. Cameron will stay here and watch her for a while longer. They should be able to transfer her to a regular room in internal medicine or geriatrics later. Currently they are trying to find another relative who can take care of her so they can send her home in a few days." Chase reported, before he related their plan: "We thought we all head to our place and sleep for a while before we unload Foreman's car and the trailer. You okay with that?"

While House would have preferred to be alone with Chase, he knew that Wilson could not be left to his own devices and he had the responsibility for Cathy now, who on the other hand needed her things. So he agreed to their plan, handing Chase two pills for Wilson and instructed: "Give these to him with a glass of water, they should take effect in about ten minutes. Use that time to get everything ready, so we can get out of here." which Chase and Foreman translated to: Wilson will not be able to get up or do anything before that time is up, and he will probably be in a lot of pain, which he does not want anybody to see, so scam.

Foreman took the soiled and bagged diaper and went out of the office to find a suitable trash can. Than he remembered that Chase had used the lab before and checked whether that needed to be cleaned up. He was not sure how much in a hurry his coworker had been earlier, especially since he had had Catherine with him.

Chase on the other hand woke Wilson, helped him to take the medicine and then went to pack up the stuff, he had taken out for Cathy and House earlier. He managed to keep his back to Wilson most of the time and tried not to listen too obviously for the harsh breathing sounds to calm down again.

A good ten minutes later, he could not find anything else to do, but move House's recliner back to the office and put back the numerous blankets Wilson was laying on. For obvious reasons that was not possible yet and just then Foreman came back from whatever task he had managed to find. It took them nearly ten more minutes until Wilson was up and able to walk without crying out of pain. After a glance at Chase Foreman slung the diaper bag over his shoulder and without further comments walked with Wilson to his car, leaving Chase to deal with Cathy and House.

To Chase's slight surprise the older diagnostician insisted that he put away the blankets first and moved the foot rest back to the office. Putting Cathy on the floor, House then tried to get up from the recliner. Chase was quickly finished with his task and headed back to the conference room, positioning himself right next to the recliner, so he could give House a hand, whenever it was accepted, but did not offer any help.

While House loved the Eames chair and it was fairly comfortable to sleep in, it was also pretty low compared to other chairs which made it harder to get up from. Usually standing up was not a big problem, though, especially compared to taking the first steps, and a moment later House was standing on his left leg, knuckles on his right hand completely white from his hard grip on his cane and the right leg barely touching the floor. After Chase was sure that he did not want to sit back down again, he quickly brought the chair back to the office as well, picked up Cathy from the floor and turned to head to the door.

Looking back at House he noticed that the older doctor had yet to put any weight on his right leg. "Right or left side?" he inquired, already heading back to House, who seemed to be considering his options.

"Left." came shortly thereafter the quiet decision and Chase took his usual spot right next to the diagnosticians left shoulder, leaving it up to House to accept further help or not. He was glad, that his partner for once decided not to be more stubborn than necessary and put his arm over his shoulders. Steadying him with his right arm around the waist, they slowly made their way to the elevator. It was still early enough, that nobody saw them in the hallway and the elevator was completely empty as well.

This time, walking it off seemed not to help at all, and House was resting heavily against the walls of the elevator on their ride down. Even though there would be eyes on them while they crossed the lobby, he was too tired to care about that any longer and leaned heavily on Chase on their remaining way to the car. It was one of the days that made it painfully clear why House needed the handicapped parking space. Without help he would not have been able to reach his car even though it was parked in the closest spot the hospital offered.

He helped House to slide down into the passenger seat and proceeded to get Cathy strapped into her car seat. Thankfully, the little girl was again sleeping soundly and did not really care what happened to her as long and she had something warm to hold onto – and was okay with replacing Chase's shirt with her teddy bear. Even though it had taken him over a minute to get Cathy situated, House had not yet closed the door and when Chase went around the car he saw that his partner had not moved from the position he had left him in at all.

His breathing was ragged and he was shaking slightly from the pain, thereby aggravating his leg even more. Intending to repeat his earlier successful massage Chase squatted down and put his hands near the offending thigh only to be stopped with a forceful: "Don't!"

Carefully he stood up again, and stepped closer to House without touching either leg and started to slowly stroke his back. With a mumbled: "Oh God! Chase!" House put his arms around Chase's waist, pulled him even closer and buried his face in Chase's stomach, hiding further moans.

Calmly combing House's hair and rubbing his back, all the time murmuring: "I am here, House. It's okay. Let it out, it will get better." over and over again like a mantra, Chase offered all the support he could think of and allowed House to finally break down. He was not sure whether the intense leg pain or the emotional turmoil was the bigger issue at the moment, but it did not matter. House was finally able to let go and not be strong for a moment, but to allow help and Chase was not in any hurry to end that.

About fifteen minutes later Chase's shirt was soaked in the front and all crumpled up in the back, but he did not care. Slowly House relaxed and leaned back into the car seat, exhaustion clear on his face. A moment later, he turned around, put his legs into the car with Chase's help and fastened the seat belt.

Without a comment Chase zipped up the light jacket he had been wearing open so far, thereby hiding any evidence of what had happened recently, which prompted House to send a grateful glance in his direction, before he closed his eyes for the ride home.

Chase closed the door, and walked around to the driver's seat. Finally they would be able to head home. House was already asleep and did not notice it any longer.


End file.
